Turning to Stone 5: The Shadows Fall

Chapter 3: Earn Your Keep

"Wakey wakey!"

It seems that Split couldn't get enough sleep, burying her face under the blankets with a muffled "Five more minutes".

"We don't have five more minutes. I'm supposed to keep an eye on you and watching people sleep is boring." Laskell came all the way into the room, shaking Split awake. His tails lashed around, making her move back.

"Can those actually set things on fire? How have you not burned down this entire room yet?" Split peeked out to see Laskell staring at her tails with wide pupils.

"No, I can't actually set anything on fire with these." He yanked her tails away, keeping them far out of reach from Laskell's twitching hands. "Alright. I'm up. What do you want."

"Tuskalhorn said we had to gather materials for the ship. I suggested using some of the stuff from the wreckage." Laskell smiled at her, seemingly unfazed by his morning snappiness. Although Split was always snappy, morning or not.

"Fine. Let's go." Split attempted to get out of bed, but tripped on his nest of blankets. Laskell let out a laugh, but quickly silenced herself. Smart. Split glared at her as she walked out.

"You guys both like to sleep in. You're perfect for each other." Glowbe blinked sarcastically. Split didn't even realize it was possible to be sarcastic in morse code until now. Laskell responded with a paw to the face, practically enveloping Glowbe in her hand.

"Ha. Small." Split scoffed. "Very small." Laskell agreed, letting him go. Glowbe blinked angrily, cursing and zipping ahead of the two. "Race you." Laskell said with a smirk, dashing after her friend. "Wha- Oh hell no!" Split got into position and took off, running at his top speed. She had longer legs than most Glowls, so running was definitely a strength of hers.

The location of the remains of her ship was easy to remember, and he passed by a blue blur and someone blinking in yellow as she dashed by. Split skidded to a stop, touching a wing to the wreckage. "I win!"

----

Laskell was huffing and puffing by the time she made it out, hearing Split's triumphant cry. "How are you that fast?" She managed to get out. "Long legs. I'm built different." Split stretched out his legs, doing a little victory dance by hopping on one foot and then the other, flapping her wings a bit as he did.

"I'm not built for running." Laskell gestured to her snake-like body. "I'm built for music, mostly." She tapped out a few notes, her tail bones appearing every time she touched one of the bead-like segments.

"Woah..." Split leaned in for a closer look. "I've never seen a monster do something like that." She reached a claw up, lightly tapping at the smallest segment, the one at the very end.

"Listen to this." Laskell closed her eyes, concentrating on the feeling deep within her. The tune guided her, telling her which notes to play and when as she went through her parts in her island's song.

Split was left shocked after her performance. "So you guys do have a song." He said. "I was wondering about that, everyone seems so... silent."

"Most of us are too busy to concentrate on playing much." Laskell admitted. "We tend to focus on knowledge and learning new things rather than practicing what we're supposed to do. We're monsters, we should really be making music!" She huffed.

"Too bad Glowls and Xysters aren't on any islands together, as far as I know. I'm pretty good at... well, others have called it 'yelling' but Glowls are good vocalists! I bet I could sing pretty well to your... whatever sound that tail makes." Split gave her a playful swat with her wing.

"Oh look at you two getting all 'buddy-buddy'." Glowbe flashed in the corner of her eye, interrupting their conversation. "Don't you remember stranger danger? And we have work to do!"